There’s been a lot of chatter on the Internet recently about Friends and some people have been calling for a Friends movie, but here’s why I don’t think it would be such a good idea.
I loved Friends in my teenage years. I used to watch it with my own friends and oh how we laughed. It would have us in hysterics sometimes (ah, the follies of youth). I’ve rewatched all 10 seasons far more times than I should have and now that it’s all on Netflix I’ll probably do so once more, just to relive my teenage years. So, why are people talking about the hit 90s TV show again?
The first thing to happen was it being made available on UK Netflix, which got people very excited. Then, some clever individual made a fan trailer for the Friends Movie claiming that it was coming in 2018. Why do people keep on falling for these fan-made Friends trailers? Beats me.
But there’s clearly an audience out there that wants to see Joey, Chandler, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe and Ross return but this time on the big screen. Yet, is it really a good idea…? The short answer to that question is, heck no! It’s a terrible idea and here’s why.
The first reason is pretty simple. The Sex And The City movies. Sex And The City was the 90s’ other big TV show and they did make a movie – they made two actually – and they were both abysmal. Like, really bad. They were poorly made, mindlessly written and lazily acted. They were also incredibly offensive to a lot of people. Just check out Mark Kermode’s legendary rant on Sex And The City 2. Seriously, it’s legend – wait for it – dairy.
What the Sex And The City movies and all other movie adaptation of TV shows have done is demonstrate that they do not make the transition to the big screen well. There’s literally never been a good movie spinoff of a TV show ever made. At least, I can’t think of one. Let me know if you can.
Secondly, Friends is a product of its time. It’s very much a nineties TV show and the humour just wouldn’t transition well to the times we live in today. Just look at the backlash the show has had since it landed on UK Netflix. Upon reflection, people have found it to be highly problematic. It’s been called misogynistic, sexist and homophobic, which is most probably the case. I need to rewatch it to figure that out for myself.
Could a Friends reunion movie be any more pointless!?
The show was also about a bunch of 30 something white people living in much too nice apartments in New York having to deal with privileged people’s problems. Do we really want to see a movie about the same people just in their 50s? Yeah, I didn’t think so. It would be a recipe for disaster and would end up getting more abuse than praise.
There’s also the fact that the actors have since moved on and most of them just want to let the past be the past, which is fine. Let Jennifer Aniston do her romcoms. Let Matt LeBlanc do Top Gear. Let Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer do whatever it is they are doing right now.
Let Friends remain in the past, where it belongs.
The show ran for 10 years and everybody made a lot of money out of it. Things were wrapped up nicely and there was a sense of closure. It’s not like it was cancelled before it’s time. Friends had a good run. No shows get 10 seasons anymore.
People need to forget about a Friends movie because it really won’t be what they want it to be. It was a product of its time and needs to left alone. Let’s concentrate on making new movies and TV shows as opposed to desperately trying to recreate, reboot and repackage the things of the past. At least, that’s what I think.
What do you guys think? Should NBC and Warner Bros. make a Friends movie? Let us know in the comments below.
“There’s literally never been a good movie spinoff of a TV show ever made. At least, I can’t think of one. Let me know if you can.”
Serenity. (The Firefly movie)